A young girl walks past food stands in the Korsi refugee camp, Sudan, 13 August 2024. (Keystone/AFP/Amaury Falt-Brown)

Amid the fracturing of multilateralism and a crisis of trust in humanitarianism, the aid system is in a struggle to remain relevant.

The challenge in 2025 and beyond will be for humanitarians to redefine what they do and why it matters. Here are five humanitarian policy trends that could play a role. There are obstacles to aid and disruptions to the system – but also opportunities for change.

Damselflies, like this common bluetail pictured in Osaka, Japan, are among the many insects that live in freshwater habitats including acidic bogs, ponds, lakes and rivers. (Laitche/Wikimedia)

🐟One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction. A new assessment of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species covering 23,496 crustaceans, fishes and insects living in freshwater ecosystems found that a whopping one-quarter risk disappearing. Pollution, dams, water extraction, agriculture, invasive species, together with overharvesting are among the biggest factors driving their extinction, according to the authors of the study.

The good news. The authors say the study goes a long way in helping to better understand the extinction risks facing freshwater species, which they hope will in turn help inform and guide environmental policies and spur countries to take action to restore freshwater habitats.